Moves into
lodgings
on the
library staircase of the Temple.
library staircase of the Temple.
Oliver Goldsmith
e.
at thirty years
of age. 'I can neither laugh nor drink,' he goes on; 'have contracted an
hesitating, disagreeable manner of speaking, and a visage that looks
ill-nature itself; in short, I have thought myself into a settled
melancholy, and an utter disgust of all that life brings with it. ' It is
obvious that this description is largely coloured by passing depression.
'His features,' says one contemporary, 'were plain, but not
repulsive,--certainly not so when lighted up by conversation. ' Another
witness--the 'Jessamy Bride'--declares that 'his benevolence was
unquestionable, and his countenance bore every trace of it. ' His true
likeness would seem to lie midway between the grotesquely truthful
sketch by Bunbury prefixed in 1776 to the 'Haunch of Venison', and the
portrait idealized by personal regard, which Reynolds painted in 1770.
In this latter he is shown wearing, in place of his customary wig, his
own scant brown hair, and, on this occasion, masquerades in a furred
robe, and falling collar. But even through the disguise of a studio
'costume,' the finely-perceptive genius of Reynolds has managed to
suggest much that is most appealing in his sitter's nature. Past
suffering, present endurance, the craving to be understood, the mute
deprecation of contempt, are all written legibly in this pathetic
picture. It has been frequently copied, often very ineffectively, for so
subtle is the art that the slightest deviation hopelessly distorts and
vulgarizes what Reynolds has done supremely, once and for ever.
Goldsmith's character presents but few real complexities. What seems
most to have impressed his contemporaries is the difference, emphasized
by the happily-antithetic epigram of Garrick, between his written style
and his conversation; and collaterally, between his eminence as a
literary man and his personal insignificance. Much of this is easily
intelligible. He had started in life with few temporal or physical
advantages, and with a native susceptibility that intensified his
defects. Until he became a middle-aged man, he led a life of which we do
not even now know all the degradations; and these had left their mark
upon his manners. With the publication of 'The Traveller', he became at
once the associate of some of the best talent and intellect in
England,--of fine gentlemen such as Beauclerk and Langton, of artists
such as Reynolds and Garrick, of talkers such as Johnson and Burke.
Morbidly self-conscious, nervously anxious to succeed, he was at once
forced into a competition for which neither his antecedents nor his
qualifications had prepared him. To this, coupled with the old habit of
poverty, must be attributed his oft-cited passion for fine clothes,
which surely arose less from vanity than from a mistaken attempt to
extenuate what he felt to be his most obvious shortcomings. As a talker
especially he was ill-fitted to shine. He was easily disconcerted by
retort, and often discomfited in argument. To the end of his days he
never lost his native brogue; and (as he himself tells us) he had that
most fatal of defects to a narrator, a slow and hesitating manner. The
perspicuity which makes the charm of his writings deserted him in
conversation; and his best things were momentary flashes. But some of
these were undoubtedly very happy. His telling Johnson that he would
make the little fishes talk like whales; his affirmation of Burke that
he wound into a subject like a serpent; and half-a-dozen other
well-remembered examples--afford ample proof of this. Something of the
uneasy jealousy he is said to have exhibited with regard to certain of
his contemporaries may also be connected with the long probation of
obscurity during which he had been a spectator of the good fortune of
others, to whom he must have known himself superior. His improvidence
seems to have been congenital, since it is to be traced 'even from his
boyish days. ' But though it cannot justly be ascribed to any reaction
from want to sufficiency, it can still less be supposed to have been
diminished by that change. If he was careless of money, it must also be
remembered that he gave much of it away; and fortune lingers little with
those whose ears are always open to a plausible tale of distress. Of his
sensibility and genuine kindheartedness there is no doubt. And it is
well to remember that most of the tales to his disadvantage come, not
from his more distinguished companions, but from such admitted
detractors as Hawkins and Boswell. It could be no mean individuality
that acquired the esteem, and deserved the regret, of Johnson and
Reynolds.
In an edition of Goldsmith's poems, any extended examination of his
remaining productions would be out of place. Moreover, the bulk of these
is considerably reduced when all that may properly be classed as
hack-work has been withdrawn. The histories of Greece, of Rome, and of
England; the 'Animated Nature'; the lives of Nash, Voltaire, Parnell,
and Bolingbroke, are merely compilations, only raised to the highest
level in that line because they proceeded from a man whose gift of clear
and easy exposition lent a charm to everything he touched. With the work
which he did for himself, the case is different. Into 'The Citizen of
the World', 'The Vicar of Wakefield', and his two comedies, he put all
the best of his knowledge of human nature, his keen sympathy with his
kind, his fine common-sense and his genial humour. The same qualities,
tempered by a certain grace and tenderness, also enter into the best of
his poems. Avoiding the epigram of Pope and the austere couplet of
Johnson, he yet borrowed something from each, which he combined with a
delicacy and an amenity that he had learned from neither. He himself, in
all probability, would have rested his fame on his three chief metrical
efforts, 'The Traveller', 'The Hermit', and 'The Deserted Village'. But,
as is often the case, he is remembered even more favourably by some of
those delightful familiar verses, unprinted during his lifetime, which
he threw off with no other ambition than the desire to amuse his
friends. 'Retaliation', 'The Haunch of Venison', the 'Letter in Prose
and Verse to Mrs. Bunbury', all afford noteworthy exemplification of
that playful touch and wayward fancy which constitute the chief
attraction of this species of poetry. In his imitations of Swift and
Prior, and his variations upon French suggestions, his personal note is
scarcely so apparent; but the two Elegies and some of the minor pieces
retain a deserved reputation. His ingenious prologues and epilogues also
serve to illustrate the range and versatility of his talent. As a rule,
the arrangement in the present edition is chronological; but it has not
been thought necessary to depart from the practice which gives a
time-honoured precedence to 'The Traveller' and 'The Deserted Village'.
The true sequence of the poems, in their order of publication, is,
however, exactly indicated in the table which follows this Introduction.
CHRONOLOGY OF GOLDSMITH'S LIFE AND POEMS.
------ 1728 ------
November 10. Born at Pallas, near Ballymahon, in the county of
Longford, Ireland.
------ 1730 ------
Family remove to Lissoy, in the county of Westmeath.
------ 1731 ------
Under Elizabeth Delap.
------ 1734 ------
Under Mr. Thomas Byrne of the village school.
------ 1736-44 ------
At school at Elphin (Mr. Griffin's),
Athlone (Mr. Campbell's),
Edgeworthstown (Mr. Hughes's).
------ 1744 ------
June 11. Admitted a sizar of Trinity College, Dublin,
'annum agens 15. '
------ 1747 ------
Death of his father, the Rev. Charles Goldsmith.
May. Takes part in a college riot.
June 15. Obtains a Smythe exhibition.
Runs away from college.
------ 1749 ------
February 27. Takes his degree as Bachelor of Arts.
------ 1751 ------
Rejected for orders by the Bishop of Elphin.
Tutor to Mr. Flinn.
Sets out for America (via Cork), but returns.
Letter to Mrs. Goldsmith(his mother).
------ 1752 ------
Starts as a law student, but loses his all at play.
Goes to Edinburgh to become a medical student.
------ 1753 ------
January 13. Admitted a member of the 'Medical Society' of Edinburgh.
May 8. Letter to his Uncle Contarine.
September 26. Letter to Robert Bryanton.
Letter to his Uncle Contarine.
------ 1754 ------
Goes to Leyden. Letter to his Uncle Contarine.
------ 1755 ------
February. Leaves Leyden.
Takes degree of Bachelor of Medicine at Louvain (? ).
Travels on foot in France, Germany,
Switzerland, and Italy.
Sketches 'The Traveller'.
------ 1756 ------
February 1. Returns to Dover.
Low comedian; usher (? ); apothecary's journeyman;
poor physician in Bankside, Southwark.
------ 1757 ------
Press corrector to Samuel Richardson, printer and
novelist; assistant at Peckham Academy (Dr. Milner's).
April. Bound over to Griffiths the bookseller.
Quarrels with Griffiths.
December 27. Letter to his brother-in-law, Daniel Hodson.
------ 1758 ------
February. Publishes 'The Memoirs of a Protestant,
condemned to the Galleys of France for his Religion'.
Gives up literature and returns to Peckham.
August. Leaves Peckham. Letters to Edward Mills, Bryanton,
Mrs. Jane Lawder.
Appointed surgeon and physician to a factory
on the Coast of Coromandel.
November (? ). Letter to Hodson.
Moves into 12 Green Arbour Court, Old Bailey.
Coromandel appointment comes to nothing.
December 21. Rejected at Surgeons' Hall as 'not qualified'
for a hospital mate.
------ 1759 ------
February (? ). Letter to Henry Goldsmith.
March. Visited by Percy at 12 Green Arbour Court.
April 2. 'Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in
Europe' published. 'Prologue of Laberius' ('Enquiry').
October 6. 'The Bee' commenced. 'On a Beautiful Youth struck blind
with Lightning' ('Bee').
October 13. 'The Gift' ('Bee').
" 18. 'The Logicians Refuted' ('Busy Body').
" 20. 'A Sonnet' ('Bee').
" 22. 'Stanzas on the Taking of Quebec' ('Busy Body').
October 27. 'Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize' ('Bee').
November 24. 'The Bee' closed.
------ 1760 ------
January 1. 'The British Magazine' commenced.
" 12. 'The Public Ledger' commenced.
" 24. First Chinese Letter published ('Citizen of the World').
May 2. 'Description of an Author's Bedchamber' ('Chinese Letter'
in 'Public Ledger').
October 21. 'On seeing Mrs. . . . perform,'etc. ('Chinese Letter' in
'Public Ledger').
Editing 'Lady's Magazine'. Compiling Prefaces.
Moves into 6 Wine Office Court, Fleet Street.
------ 1761 ------
March 4. 'On the Death of the Right Hon. . . . ('Chinese Letter' in
'Public Ledger').
April 4-14. 'An Epigram'; to G. C. and R. L. ('Chinese Letter
in 'Public Ledger').
May 13. 'Translation of a South American Ode. ' ('Chinese
Letter' in 'Public Ledger')
August 14. Last Chinese Letter published ('Citizen of the World').
'Memoirs of M. de Voltaire' published in
'Lady's Magazine'.
------ 1762 ------
February 23. Pamphlet on Cock Lane Ghost published.
" 26. 'History of Mecklenburgh' published.
May 1. 'Citizen of the World' published.
May 1 to Nov. 1. 'Plutarch's Lives', vol. i to vii, published.
At Bath and Tunbridge.
October 14. 'Life of Richard Nash' published.
" 28. Sells third share of 'Vicar of Wakefield'
to B. Collins, printer, Salisbury.
At Mrs. Fleming's at Islington.
------ 1763 ------
March 31. Agrees with James Dodsley to write a
'Chronological History of the Lives of Eminent
Persons of Great Britain and Ireland'. (Never done. )
------ 1764 ------
'The Club,' afterwards the Literary Club, founded.
Moves into lodgings on the
library staircase of the Temple.
June 26. 'History of England, in a series of Letters
from a Nobleman to his Son' published.
October 31. Oratorio of 'The Captivity' sold to James Dodsley.
December 19. 'The Traveller' published.
------ 1765 ------
June 4. 'Essays by Mr. Goldsmith' published.
'The Double Transformation,'
'A New Simile' ('Essays').
'Edwin and Angelina' ('The Hermit')
printed privately for the amusement
of the Countess of Northumberland.
Resumes practice as a physician.
------ 1766 ------
March 27. 'Vicar of Wakefield' published.
'Elegy on a Mad Dog';
'Olivia's Song' ('Vicar of Wakefield').
May 31. 'Vicar of Wakefield', 2nd edition.
June. Translation of Formey's 'Concise History of
Philosophy and Philosophers' published.
August 29. 'Vicar of Wakefield', 3rd edition.
December 15. 'Poems for Young Ladies' published.
------ 1766 ------
December 28. 'English Grammar' written.
------ 1767 ------
April. 'Beauties of English Poesy' published.
July 19. Living in Garden Court, Temple.
" 25. Letter to the 'St. James's Chronicle'.
December 22. Death of John Newbery.
------ 1768 ------
February 5. Publishes 'The Good Natur'd Man', a Comedy,
produced at Covent Garden, January 29.
'Epilogue to 'The Good Natur'd Man'. '
Moves to 2 Brick Court, Middle Temple.
May. Death of Henry Goldsmith.
Living at Edgware.
------ 1769 ------
February 18. 'Epilogue to Mrs. Lenox's 'Sister'. '
" 29. Agreement for 'a new Natural History
of Animals' ('Animated Nature').
May 18. 'Roman History' published
June 13. Agreement for 'History of England'.
December. Appointed Professor of History to the Royal Academy.
------ 1770 ------
January. Letter to Maurice Goldsmith.
April 24-May 26. Portrait by Reynolds exhibited.
May 26. 'The Deserted Village' published.
July 13. 'Life of Thomas Parnell' published.
July. On the Continent with the Hornecks.
Letters to Reynolds.
September 15. Agreement for abridgement of 'Roman History'.
December 1. Marchi's print from Reynold's portrait published.
December 19. 'Life of Bolingbroke' published.
'Vicar of Wakefield', 4th edition.
------ 1771 ------
'Haunch of Venison' written. (? )
August 6. 'History of England' published.
December 11. 'Prologue to Cradock's 'Zobeide'. '
------ 1772 ------
February 20. 'Threnodia Augustalis' published.
Watson's Engraving of 'Resignation' published.
December. Abridgement of 'Roman History' published.
------ 1773 ------
March 26. Publishes 'She Stoops to Conquer; or,
The Mistakes of a Night', a Comedy,
produced at Covent Garden, March 15.
'Song in 'She Stoops to Conquer','
'Epilogue to 'She Stoops to Conquer'. '
------ 1773 ------
March 24. Kenrick's libel in the 'London Packet'.
" 31. Letter in the 'Daily Advertiser'.
May 8. 'The Grumbler' produced.
Projects a 'Dictionary of Arts and Sciences'.
------ 1774 ------
March 25. Illness.
April 4. Death.
" 9. 'Buried 9th April, Oliver Goldsmith, MB,
late of Brick-court, Middle Temple'
(Register of Burials, Temple Church).
April 19. 'Retaliation' published.
April. 'Vicar of Wakefield', 5th edition (dated 1773).
June. Song ('Ah me, when shall I marry me? ') published.
June 28. Letters of Administration granted.
June. 'An History of the Earth and Animated Nature'
published.
'Translation from Addison. ' ('History', etc. , 1774. )
------ 1776 ------
'The Haunch of Venison' published.
'Epitaph on Thomas Parnell,' and
'Two Songs from 'The Captivity' ('Haunch of Venison').
Monument with medallion by Nollekens erected in the
south transept of Westminster Abbey.
------ 1777 ------
'Poems and Plays' published.
'The Clown's Reply,'
'Epitaph on Edward Purdon' ('Poems', etc. , 1777).
------ 1779 ------
'Vicar of Wakefield', 6th edition.
------ 1780 ------
'Poetical and Dramatic Works',
Evans's edition, published.
'Epilogue for Lee Lewes' ('Poetical, etc. , Works', 1780).
------ 1801 ------
'Miscellaneous Works', Percy's edition, published.
'Epilogues (unspoken) to 'She Stoops to Conquer''
('Misc. Works', 1801).
------ 1820 ------
'Miscellaneous Works', 'trade' edition, published.
An Oratorio' ('The Captivity'). ('Misc. Works', 1820. )
------ 1837 ------
'Miscellaneous Works', Prior's edition, published.
'Verses in Reply to an Invitation to Dinner';
'Letter in Prose and Verse to Mrs. Bunbury'
('Misc. Works', 1837).
Tablet erected in the Temple Church.
------ 1854 ------
'Goldsmith's Works', Cunningham's edition, published.
'Translation of Vida's 'Game of Chess''
('Works', 1854, vol. iv).
------ 1864 ------
January 5. J. H. Foley's statue placed in front of
Dublin University.
DESCRIPTIVE POEMS
THE TRAVELLER
OR
A PROSPECT OF SOCIETY
DEDICATION
TO THE REV. HENRY GOLDSMITH
DEAR SIR,
I am sensible that the friendship between us can acquire no new force
from the ceremonies of a Dedication; and perhaps it demands an excuse
thus to prefix your name to my attempts, which you decline giving with
your own. But as a part of this Poem was formerly written to you from
Switzerland, the whole can now, with propriety, be only inscribed to
you. It will also throw a light upon many parts of it, when the reader
understands, that it is addressed to a man, who, despising Fame and
Fortune, has retired early to Happiness and Obscurity, with an income of
forty pounds a year.
I now perceive, my dear brother, the wisdom of your humble choice. You
have entered upon a sacred office, where the harvest is great, and the
labourers are but few; while you have left the field of Ambition, where
the labourers are many, and the harvest not worth carrying away. But of
all kinds of ambition, what from the refinement of the times, from
different systems of criticism, and from the divisions of party, that
which pursues poetical fame is the wildest.
Poetry makes a principal amusement among unpolished nations; but in a
country verging to the extremes of refinement, Painting and Music come
in for a share. As these offer the feeble mind a less laborious
entertainment, they at first rival Poetry, and at length supplant her;
they engross all that favour once shown to her, and though but younger
sisters, seize upon the elder's birthright.
Yet, however this art may be neglected by the powerful, it is still in
greater danger from the mistaken efforts of the learned to improve it.
What criticisms have we not heard of late in favour of blank verse, and
Pindaric odes, choruses, anapaests and iambics, alliterative care and
happy negligence! Every absurdity has now a champion to defend it; and
as he is generally much in the wrong, so he has always much to say; for
error is ever talkative.
But there is an enemy to this art still more dangerous, I mean Party.
Party entirely distorts the judgment, and destroys the taste. When the
mind is once infected with this disease, it can only find pleasure in
what contributes to increase the distemper. Like the tiger, that seldom
desists from pursuing man after having once preyed upon human flesh, the
reader, who has once gratified his appetite with calumny, makes, ever
after, the most agreeable feast upon murdered reputation. Such readers
generally admire some half-witted thing, who wants to be thought a bold
man, having lost the character of a wise one. Him they dignify with the
name of poet; his tawdry lampoons are called satires, his turbulence is
said to be force, and his frenzy fire.
What reception a Poem may find, which has neither abuse, party, nor
blank verse to support it, I cannot tell, nor am I solicitous to know.
My aims are right. Without espousing the cause of any party, I have
attempted to moderate the rage of all. I have endeavoured to show, that
there may be equal happiness in states, that are differently governed
from our own; that every state has a particular principle of happiness,
and that this principle in each may be carried to a mischievous excess.
There are few can judge, better than yourself, how far these positions
are illustrated in this Poem.
I am, dear Sir,
Your most affectionate Brother,
OLIVER GOLDSMITH.
THE TRAVELLER
OR
A PROSPECT OF SOCIETY
REMOTE, unfriended, melancholy, slow,
Or by the lazy Scheldt, or wandering Po;
Or onward, where the rude Carinthian boor
Against the houseless stranger shuts the door;
Or where Campania's plain forsaken lies, 5
A weary waste expanding to the skies:
Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see,
My heart untravell'd fondly turns to thee;
Still to my brother turns with ceaseless pain,
And drags at each remove a lengthening chain. 10
Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend,
And round his dwelling guardian saints attend:
Bless'd be that spot, where cheerful guests retire
To pause from toil, and trim their ev'ning fire;
Bless'd that abode, where want and pain repair, 15
And every stranger finds a ready chair;
Bless'd be those feasts with simple plenty crown'd,
Where all the ruddy family around
Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail,
Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale, 20
Or press the bashful stranger to his food,
And learn the luxury of doing good.
But me, not destin'd such delights to share,
My prime of life in wand'ring spent and care,
Impell'd, with steps unceasing, to pursue 25
Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view;
That, like the circle bounding earth and skies,
Allures from far, yet, as I follow, flies;
My fortune leads to traverse realms alone,
And find no spot of all the world my own. 30
E'en now, where Alpine solitudes ascend,
I sit me down a pensive hour to spend;
And, plac'd on high above the storm's career,
Look downward where a hundred realms appear;
Lakes, forests, cities, plains, extending wide, 35
The pomp of kings, the shepherd's humbler pride.
When thus Creation's charms around combine,
Amidst the store, should thankless pride repine?
Say, should the philosophic mind disdain
That good, which makes each humbler bosom vain?
Let school-taught pride dissemble all it can, 41
These little things are great to little man;
And wiser he, whose sympathetic mind
Exults in all the good of all mankind.
Ye glitt'ring towns, with wealth and splendour crown'd,
Ye fields, where summer spreads profusion round, 46
Ye lakes, whose vessels catch the busy gale,
Ye bending swains, that dress the flow'ry vale,
For me your tributary stores combine;
Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine! 50
As some lone miser visiting his store,
Bends at his treasure, counts, re-counts it o'er;
Hoards after hoards his rising raptures fill,
Yet still he sighs, for hoards are wanting still:
Thus to my breast alternate passions rise, 55
Pleas'd with each good that heaven to man supplies:
Yet oft a sigh prevails, and sorrows fall,
To see the hoard of human bliss so small;
And oft I wish, amidst the scene, to find
Some spot to real happiness consign'd, 60
Where my worn soul, each wand'ring hope at rest,
May gather bliss to see my fellows bless'd.
But where to find that happiest spot below,
Who can direct, when all pretend to know?
The shudd'ring tenant of the frigid zone 65
Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own,
Extols the treasures of his stormy seas,
And his long nights of revelry and ease;
The naked negro, panting at the line,
Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine, 70
Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave,
And thanks his gods for all the good they gave.
Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam,
His first, best country ever is, at home.
And yet, perhaps, if countries we compare, 75
And estimate the blessings which they share,
Though patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find
An equal portion dealt to all mankind,
As different good, by Art or Nature given,
To different nations makes their blessings even. 80
Nature, a mother kind alike to all,
Still grants her bliss at Labour's earnest call;
With food as well the peasant is supplied
On Idra's cliffs as Arno's shelvy side;
And though the rocky-crested summits frown, 85
These rocks, by custom, turn to beds of down.
From Art more various are the blessings sent;
Wealth commerce, honour, liberty, content.
Yet these each other's power so strong contest,
That either seems destructive of the rest. 90
Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails,
And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.
Hence every state to one lov'd blessing prone,
Conforms and models life to that alone.
Each to the favourite happiness attends, 95
And spurns the plan that aims at other ends;
Till, carried to excess in each domain,
This favourite good begets peculiar pain.
But let us try these truths with closer eyes,
And trace them through the prospect as it lies: 100
Here for a while my proper cares resign'd,
Here let me sit in sorrow for mankind,
Like yon neglected shrub at random cast,
That shades the steep, and sighs at every blast.
Far to the right where Apennine ascends, 105
Bright as the summer, Italy extends;
Its uplands sloping deck the mountain's side,
Woods over woods in gay theatric pride;
While oft some temple's mould'ring tops between
With venerable grandeur mark the scene 110
Could Nature's bounty satisfy the breast,
The sons of Italy were surely blest.
Whatever fruits in different climes were found,
That proudly rise, or humbly court the ground;
Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear, 115
Whose bright succession decks the varied year;
Whatever sweets salute the northern sky
With vernal lives that blossom but to die;
These here disporting own the kindred soil,
Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil; 120
While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand
To winnow fragrance round the smiling land.
But small the bliss that sense alone bestows,
And sensual bliss is all the nation knows.
In florid beauty groves and fields appear, 125
Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
Contrasted faults through all his manner reign;
Though poor, luxurious; though submissive, vain;
Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet untrue;
And e'en in penance planning sins anew. 130
All evils here contaminate the mind,
That opulence departed leaves behind;
For wealth was theirs, not far remov'd the date,
When commerce proudly flourish'd through the state;
At her command the palace learn'd to rise, 135
Again the long-fall'n column sought the skies;
The canvas glow'd beyond e'en Nature warm,
The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form;
Till, more unsteady than the southern gale,
Commerce on other shores display'd her sail; 140
While nought remain'd of all that riches gave,
But towns unmann'd, and lords without a slave;
And late the nation found, with fruitless skill,
Its former strength was but plethoric ill.
Yet still the loss of wealth is here supplied 145
By arts, the splendid wrecks of former pride;
From these the feeble heart and long-fall'n mind
An easy compensation seem to find.
Here may be seen, in bloodless pomp array'd,
The paste-board triumph and the cavalcade; 150
Processions form'd for piety and love,
A mistress or a saint in every grove.
By sports like these are all their cares beguil'd,
The sports of children satisfy the child;
Each nobler aim, repress'd by long control, 155
Now sinks at last, or feebly mans the soul;
While low delights, succeeding fast behind,
In happier meanness occupy the mind:
As in those domes, where Caesars once bore sway,
Defac'd by time and tottering in decay, 160
There in the ruin, heedless of the dead,
The shelter-seeking peasant builds his shed,
And, wond'ring man could want the larger pile,
Exults, and owns his cottage with a smile.
My soul, turn from them; turn we to survey 165
Where rougher climes a nobler race display,
Where the bleak Swiss their stormy mansions tread,
And force a churlish soil for scanty bread;
No product here the barren hills afford,
But man and steel, the soldier and his sword; 170
No vernal blooms their torpid rocks array,
But winter ling'ring chills the lap of May;
No Zephyr fondly sues the mountain's breast,
But meteors glare, and stormy glooms invest.
Yet still, e'en here, content can spread a charm, 175
Redress the clime, and all its rage disarm.
Though poor the peasant's hut, his feasts though small,
He sees his little lot the lot of all;
Sees no contiguous palace rear its head
To shame the meanness of his humble shed; 180
No costly lord the sumptuous banquet deal
To make him loathe his vegetable meal;
But calm, and bred in ignorance and toil,
Each wish contracting, fits him to the soil.
Cheerful at morn he wakes from short repose, 185
Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes;
With patient angle trolls the finny deep,
Or drives his vent'rous plough-share to the steep;
Or seeks the den where snow-tracks mark the way,
And drags the struggling savage into day. 190
At night returning, every labour sped,
He sits him down the monarch of a shed;
Smiles by his cheerful fire, and round surveys
His children's looks, that brighten at the blaze;
While his lov'd partner, boastful of her hoard, 195
Displays her cleanly platter on the board:
And haply too some pilgrim, thither led,
With many a tale repays the nightly bed.
Thus every good his native wilds impart,
Imprints the patriot passion on his heart, 200
And e'en those ills, that round his mansion rise,
Enhance the bliss his scanty fund supplies.
Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms,
And dear that hill which lifts him to the storms;
And as a child, when scaring sounds molest, 205
Clings close and closer to the mother's breast,
So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's roar,
But bind him to his native mountains more.
Such are the charms to barren states assign'd;
Their wants but few, their wishes all confin'd.
of age. 'I can neither laugh nor drink,' he goes on; 'have contracted an
hesitating, disagreeable manner of speaking, and a visage that looks
ill-nature itself; in short, I have thought myself into a settled
melancholy, and an utter disgust of all that life brings with it. ' It is
obvious that this description is largely coloured by passing depression.
'His features,' says one contemporary, 'were plain, but not
repulsive,--certainly not so when lighted up by conversation. ' Another
witness--the 'Jessamy Bride'--declares that 'his benevolence was
unquestionable, and his countenance bore every trace of it. ' His true
likeness would seem to lie midway between the grotesquely truthful
sketch by Bunbury prefixed in 1776 to the 'Haunch of Venison', and the
portrait idealized by personal regard, which Reynolds painted in 1770.
In this latter he is shown wearing, in place of his customary wig, his
own scant brown hair, and, on this occasion, masquerades in a furred
robe, and falling collar. But even through the disguise of a studio
'costume,' the finely-perceptive genius of Reynolds has managed to
suggest much that is most appealing in his sitter's nature. Past
suffering, present endurance, the craving to be understood, the mute
deprecation of contempt, are all written legibly in this pathetic
picture. It has been frequently copied, often very ineffectively, for so
subtle is the art that the slightest deviation hopelessly distorts and
vulgarizes what Reynolds has done supremely, once and for ever.
Goldsmith's character presents but few real complexities. What seems
most to have impressed his contemporaries is the difference, emphasized
by the happily-antithetic epigram of Garrick, between his written style
and his conversation; and collaterally, between his eminence as a
literary man and his personal insignificance. Much of this is easily
intelligible. He had started in life with few temporal or physical
advantages, and with a native susceptibility that intensified his
defects. Until he became a middle-aged man, he led a life of which we do
not even now know all the degradations; and these had left their mark
upon his manners. With the publication of 'The Traveller', he became at
once the associate of some of the best talent and intellect in
England,--of fine gentlemen such as Beauclerk and Langton, of artists
such as Reynolds and Garrick, of talkers such as Johnson and Burke.
Morbidly self-conscious, nervously anxious to succeed, he was at once
forced into a competition for which neither his antecedents nor his
qualifications had prepared him. To this, coupled with the old habit of
poverty, must be attributed his oft-cited passion for fine clothes,
which surely arose less from vanity than from a mistaken attempt to
extenuate what he felt to be his most obvious shortcomings. As a talker
especially he was ill-fitted to shine. He was easily disconcerted by
retort, and often discomfited in argument. To the end of his days he
never lost his native brogue; and (as he himself tells us) he had that
most fatal of defects to a narrator, a slow and hesitating manner. The
perspicuity which makes the charm of his writings deserted him in
conversation; and his best things were momentary flashes. But some of
these were undoubtedly very happy. His telling Johnson that he would
make the little fishes talk like whales; his affirmation of Burke that
he wound into a subject like a serpent; and half-a-dozen other
well-remembered examples--afford ample proof of this. Something of the
uneasy jealousy he is said to have exhibited with regard to certain of
his contemporaries may also be connected with the long probation of
obscurity during which he had been a spectator of the good fortune of
others, to whom he must have known himself superior. His improvidence
seems to have been congenital, since it is to be traced 'even from his
boyish days. ' But though it cannot justly be ascribed to any reaction
from want to sufficiency, it can still less be supposed to have been
diminished by that change. If he was careless of money, it must also be
remembered that he gave much of it away; and fortune lingers little with
those whose ears are always open to a plausible tale of distress. Of his
sensibility and genuine kindheartedness there is no doubt. And it is
well to remember that most of the tales to his disadvantage come, not
from his more distinguished companions, but from such admitted
detractors as Hawkins and Boswell. It could be no mean individuality
that acquired the esteem, and deserved the regret, of Johnson and
Reynolds.
In an edition of Goldsmith's poems, any extended examination of his
remaining productions would be out of place. Moreover, the bulk of these
is considerably reduced when all that may properly be classed as
hack-work has been withdrawn. The histories of Greece, of Rome, and of
England; the 'Animated Nature'; the lives of Nash, Voltaire, Parnell,
and Bolingbroke, are merely compilations, only raised to the highest
level in that line because they proceeded from a man whose gift of clear
and easy exposition lent a charm to everything he touched. With the work
which he did for himself, the case is different. Into 'The Citizen of
the World', 'The Vicar of Wakefield', and his two comedies, he put all
the best of his knowledge of human nature, his keen sympathy with his
kind, his fine common-sense and his genial humour. The same qualities,
tempered by a certain grace and tenderness, also enter into the best of
his poems. Avoiding the epigram of Pope and the austere couplet of
Johnson, he yet borrowed something from each, which he combined with a
delicacy and an amenity that he had learned from neither. He himself, in
all probability, would have rested his fame on his three chief metrical
efforts, 'The Traveller', 'The Hermit', and 'The Deserted Village'. But,
as is often the case, he is remembered even more favourably by some of
those delightful familiar verses, unprinted during his lifetime, which
he threw off with no other ambition than the desire to amuse his
friends. 'Retaliation', 'The Haunch of Venison', the 'Letter in Prose
and Verse to Mrs. Bunbury', all afford noteworthy exemplification of
that playful touch and wayward fancy which constitute the chief
attraction of this species of poetry. In his imitations of Swift and
Prior, and his variations upon French suggestions, his personal note is
scarcely so apparent; but the two Elegies and some of the minor pieces
retain a deserved reputation. His ingenious prologues and epilogues also
serve to illustrate the range and versatility of his talent. As a rule,
the arrangement in the present edition is chronological; but it has not
been thought necessary to depart from the practice which gives a
time-honoured precedence to 'The Traveller' and 'The Deserted Village'.
The true sequence of the poems, in their order of publication, is,
however, exactly indicated in the table which follows this Introduction.
CHRONOLOGY OF GOLDSMITH'S LIFE AND POEMS.
------ 1728 ------
November 10. Born at Pallas, near Ballymahon, in the county of
Longford, Ireland.
------ 1730 ------
Family remove to Lissoy, in the county of Westmeath.
------ 1731 ------
Under Elizabeth Delap.
------ 1734 ------
Under Mr. Thomas Byrne of the village school.
------ 1736-44 ------
At school at Elphin (Mr. Griffin's),
Athlone (Mr. Campbell's),
Edgeworthstown (Mr. Hughes's).
------ 1744 ------
June 11. Admitted a sizar of Trinity College, Dublin,
'annum agens 15. '
------ 1747 ------
Death of his father, the Rev. Charles Goldsmith.
May. Takes part in a college riot.
June 15. Obtains a Smythe exhibition.
Runs away from college.
------ 1749 ------
February 27. Takes his degree as Bachelor of Arts.
------ 1751 ------
Rejected for orders by the Bishop of Elphin.
Tutor to Mr. Flinn.
Sets out for America (via Cork), but returns.
Letter to Mrs. Goldsmith(his mother).
------ 1752 ------
Starts as a law student, but loses his all at play.
Goes to Edinburgh to become a medical student.
------ 1753 ------
January 13. Admitted a member of the 'Medical Society' of Edinburgh.
May 8. Letter to his Uncle Contarine.
September 26. Letter to Robert Bryanton.
Letter to his Uncle Contarine.
------ 1754 ------
Goes to Leyden. Letter to his Uncle Contarine.
------ 1755 ------
February. Leaves Leyden.
Takes degree of Bachelor of Medicine at Louvain (? ).
Travels on foot in France, Germany,
Switzerland, and Italy.
Sketches 'The Traveller'.
------ 1756 ------
February 1. Returns to Dover.
Low comedian; usher (? ); apothecary's journeyman;
poor physician in Bankside, Southwark.
------ 1757 ------
Press corrector to Samuel Richardson, printer and
novelist; assistant at Peckham Academy (Dr. Milner's).
April. Bound over to Griffiths the bookseller.
Quarrels with Griffiths.
December 27. Letter to his brother-in-law, Daniel Hodson.
------ 1758 ------
February. Publishes 'The Memoirs of a Protestant,
condemned to the Galleys of France for his Religion'.
Gives up literature and returns to Peckham.
August. Leaves Peckham. Letters to Edward Mills, Bryanton,
Mrs. Jane Lawder.
Appointed surgeon and physician to a factory
on the Coast of Coromandel.
November (? ). Letter to Hodson.
Moves into 12 Green Arbour Court, Old Bailey.
Coromandel appointment comes to nothing.
December 21. Rejected at Surgeons' Hall as 'not qualified'
for a hospital mate.
------ 1759 ------
February (? ). Letter to Henry Goldsmith.
March. Visited by Percy at 12 Green Arbour Court.
April 2. 'Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in
Europe' published. 'Prologue of Laberius' ('Enquiry').
October 6. 'The Bee' commenced. 'On a Beautiful Youth struck blind
with Lightning' ('Bee').
October 13. 'The Gift' ('Bee').
" 18. 'The Logicians Refuted' ('Busy Body').
" 20. 'A Sonnet' ('Bee').
" 22. 'Stanzas on the Taking of Quebec' ('Busy Body').
October 27. 'Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize' ('Bee').
November 24. 'The Bee' closed.
------ 1760 ------
January 1. 'The British Magazine' commenced.
" 12. 'The Public Ledger' commenced.
" 24. First Chinese Letter published ('Citizen of the World').
May 2. 'Description of an Author's Bedchamber' ('Chinese Letter'
in 'Public Ledger').
October 21. 'On seeing Mrs. . . . perform,'etc. ('Chinese Letter' in
'Public Ledger').
Editing 'Lady's Magazine'. Compiling Prefaces.
Moves into 6 Wine Office Court, Fleet Street.
------ 1761 ------
March 4. 'On the Death of the Right Hon. . . . ('Chinese Letter' in
'Public Ledger').
April 4-14. 'An Epigram'; to G. C. and R. L. ('Chinese Letter
in 'Public Ledger').
May 13. 'Translation of a South American Ode. ' ('Chinese
Letter' in 'Public Ledger')
August 14. Last Chinese Letter published ('Citizen of the World').
'Memoirs of M. de Voltaire' published in
'Lady's Magazine'.
------ 1762 ------
February 23. Pamphlet on Cock Lane Ghost published.
" 26. 'History of Mecklenburgh' published.
May 1. 'Citizen of the World' published.
May 1 to Nov. 1. 'Plutarch's Lives', vol. i to vii, published.
At Bath and Tunbridge.
October 14. 'Life of Richard Nash' published.
" 28. Sells third share of 'Vicar of Wakefield'
to B. Collins, printer, Salisbury.
At Mrs. Fleming's at Islington.
------ 1763 ------
March 31. Agrees with James Dodsley to write a
'Chronological History of the Lives of Eminent
Persons of Great Britain and Ireland'. (Never done. )
------ 1764 ------
'The Club,' afterwards the Literary Club, founded.
Moves into lodgings on the
library staircase of the Temple.
June 26. 'History of England, in a series of Letters
from a Nobleman to his Son' published.
October 31. Oratorio of 'The Captivity' sold to James Dodsley.
December 19. 'The Traveller' published.
------ 1765 ------
June 4. 'Essays by Mr. Goldsmith' published.
'The Double Transformation,'
'A New Simile' ('Essays').
'Edwin and Angelina' ('The Hermit')
printed privately for the amusement
of the Countess of Northumberland.
Resumes practice as a physician.
------ 1766 ------
March 27. 'Vicar of Wakefield' published.
'Elegy on a Mad Dog';
'Olivia's Song' ('Vicar of Wakefield').
May 31. 'Vicar of Wakefield', 2nd edition.
June. Translation of Formey's 'Concise History of
Philosophy and Philosophers' published.
August 29. 'Vicar of Wakefield', 3rd edition.
December 15. 'Poems for Young Ladies' published.
------ 1766 ------
December 28. 'English Grammar' written.
------ 1767 ------
April. 'Beauties of English Poesy' published.
July 19. Living in Garden Court, Temple.
" 25. Letter to the 'St. James's Chronicle'.
December 22. Death of John Newbery.
------ 1768 ------
February 5. Publishes 'The Good Natur'd Man', a Comedy,
produced at Covent Garden, January 29.
'Epilogue to 'The Good Natur'd Man'. '
Moves to 2 Brick Court, Middle Temple.
May. Death of Henry Goldsmith.
Living at Edgware.
------ 1769 ------
February 18. 'Epilogue to Mrs. Lenox's 'Sister'. '
" 29. Agreement for 'a new Natural History
of Animals' ('Animated Nature').
May 18. 'Roman History' published
June 13. Agreement for 'History of England'.
December. Appointed Professor of History to the Royal Academy.
------ 1770 ------
January. Letter to Maurice Goldsmith.
April 24-May 26. Portrait by Reynolds exhibited.
May 26. 'The Deserted Village' published.
July 13. 'Life of Thomas Parnell' published.
July. On the Continent with the Hornecks.
Letters to Reynolds.
September 15. Agreement for abridgement of 'Roman History'.
December 1. Marchi's print from Reynold's portrait published.
December 19. 'Life of Bolingbroke' published.
'Vicar of Wakefield', 4th edition.
------ 1771 ------
'Haunch of Venison' written. (? )
August 6. 'History of England' published.
December 11. 'Prologue to Cradock's 'Zobeide'. '
------ 1772 ------
February 20. 'Threnodia Augustalis' published.
Watson's Engraving of 'Resignation' published.
December. Abridgement of 'Roman History' published.
------ 1773 ------
March 26. Publishes 'She Stoops to Conquer; or,
The Mistakes of a Night', a Comedy,
produced at Covent Garden, March 15.
'Song in 'She Stoops to Conquer','
'Epilogue to 'She Stoops to Conquer'. '
------ 1773 ------
March 24. Kenrick's libel in the 'London Packet'.
" 31. Letter in the 'Daily Advertiser'.
May 8. 'The Grumbler' produced.
Projects a 'Dictionary of Arts and Sciences'.
------ 1774 ------
March 25. Illness.
April 4. Death.
" 9. 'Buried 9th April, Oliver Goldsmith, MB,
late of Brick-court, Middle Temple'
(Register of Burials, Temple Church).
April 19. 'Retaliation' published.
April. 'Vicar of Wakefield', 5th edition (dated 1773).
June. Song ('Ah me, when shall I marry me? ') published.
June 28. Letters of Administration granted.
June. 'An History of the Earth and Animated Nature'
published.
'Translation from Addison. ' ('History', etc. , 1774. )
------ 1776 ------
'The Haunch of Venison' published.
'Epitaph on Thomas Parnell,' and
'Two Songs from 'The Captivity' ('Haunch of Venison').
Monument with medallion by Nollekens erected in the
south transept of Westminster Abbey.
------ 1777 ------
'Poems and Plays' published.
'The Clown's Reply,'
'Epitaph on Edward Purdon' ('Poems', etc. , 1777).
------ 1779 ------
'Vicar of Wakefield', 6th edition.
------ 1780 ------
'Poetical and Dramatic Works',
Evans's edition, published.
'Epilogue for Lee Lewes' ('Poetical, etc. , Works', 1780).
------ 1801 ------
'Miscellaneous Works', Percy's edition, published.
'Epilogues (unspoken) to 'She Stoops to Conquer''
('Misc. Works', 1801).
------ 1820 ------
'Miscellaneous Works', 'trade' edition, published.
An Oratorio' ('The Captivity'). ('Misc. Works', 1820. )
------ 1837 ------
'Miscellaneous Works', Prior's edition, published.
'Verses in Reply to an Invitation to Dinner';
'Letter in Prose and Verse to Mrs. Bunbury'
('Misc. Works', 1837).
Tablet erected in the Temple Church.
------ 1854 ------
'Goldsmith's Works', Cunningham's edition, published.
'Translation of Vida's 'Game of Chess''
('Works', 1854, vol. iv).
------ 1864 ------
January 5. J. H. Foley's statue placed in front of
Dublin University.
DESCRIPTIVE POEMS
THE TRAVELLER
OR
A PROSPECT OF SOCIETY
DEDICATION
TO THE REV. HENRY GOLDSMITH
DEAR SIR,
I am sensible that the friendship between us can acquire no new force
from the ceremonies of a Dedication; and perhaps it demands an excuse
thus to prefix your name to my attempts, which you decline giving with
your own. But as a part of this Poem was formerly written to you from
Switzerland, the whole can now, with propriety, be only inscribed to
you. It will also throw a light upon many parts of it, when the reader
understands, that it is addressed to a man, who, despising Fame and
Fortune, has retired early to Happiness and Obscurity, with an income of
forty pounds a year.
I now perceive, my dear brother, the wisdom of your humble choice. You
have entered upon a sacred office, where the harvest is great, and the
labourers are but few; while you have left the field of Ambition, where
the labourers are many, and the harvest not worth carrying away. But of
all kinds of ambition, what from the refinement of the times, from
different systems of criticism, and from the divisions of party, that
which pursues poetical fame is the wildest.
Poetry makes a principal amusement among unpolished nations; but in a
country verging to the extremes of refinement, Painting and Music come
in for a share. As these offer the feeble mind a less laborious
entertainment, they at first rival Poetry, and at length supplant her;
they engross all that favour once shown to her, and though but younger
sisters, seize upon the elder's birthright.
Yet, however this art may be neglected by the powerful, it is still in
greater danger from the mistaken efforts of the learned to improve it.
What criticisms have we not heard of late in favour of blank verse, and
Pindaric odes, choruses, anapaests and iambics, alliterative care and
happy negligence! Every absurdity has now a champion to defend it; and
as he is generally much in the wrong, so he has always much to say; for
error is ever talkative.
But there is an enemy to this art still more dangerous, I mean Party.
Party entirely distorts the judgment, and destroys the taste. When the
mind is once infected with this disease, it can only find pleasure in
what contributes to increase the distemper. Like the tiger, that seldom
desists from pursuing man after having once preyed upon human flesh, the
reader, who has once gratified his appetite with calumny, makes, ever
after, the most agreeable feast upon murdered reputation. Such readers
generally admire some half-witted thing, who wants to be thought a bold
man, having lost the character of a wise one. Him they dignify with the
name of poet; his tawdry lampoons are called satires, his turbulence is
said to be force, and his frenzy fire.
What reception a Poem may find, which has neither abuse, party, nor
blank verse to support it, I cannot tell, nor am I solicitous to know.
My aims are right. Without espousing the cause of any party, I have
attempted to moderate the rage of all. I have endeavoured to show, that
there may be equal happiness in states, that are differently governed
from our own; that every state has a particular principle of happiness,
and that this principle in each may be carried to a mischievous excess.
There are few can judge, better than yourself, how far these positions
are illustrated in this Poem.
I am, dear Sir,
Your most affectionate Brother,
OLIVER GOLDSMITH.
THE TRAVELLER
OR
A PROSPECT OF SOCIETY
REMOTE, unfriended, melancholy, slow,
Or by the lazy Scheldt, or wandering Po;
Or onward, where the rude Carinthian boor
Against the houseless stranger shuts the door;
Or where Campania's plain forsaken lies, 5
A weary waste expanding to the skies:
Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see,
My heart untravell'd fondly turns to thee;
Still to my brother turns with ceaseless pain,
And drags at each remove a lengthening chain. 10
Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend,
And round his dwelling guardian saints attend:
Bless'd be that spot, where cheerful guests retire
To pause from toil, and trim their ev'ning fire;
Bless'd that abode, where want and pain repair, 15
And every stranger finds a ready chair;
Bless'd be those feasts with simple plenty crown'd,
Where all the ruddy family around
Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail,
Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale, 20
Or press the bashful stranger to his food,
And learn the luxury of doing good.
But me, not destin'd such delights to share,
My prime of life in wand'ring spent and care,
Impell'd, with steps unceasing, to pursue 25
Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view;
That, like the circle bounding earth and skies,
Allures from far, yet, as I follow, flies;
My fortune leads to traverse realms alone,
And find no spot of all the world my own. 30
E'en now, where Alpine solitudes ascend,
I sit me down a pensive hour to spend;
And, plac'd on high above the storm's career,
Look downward where a hundred realms appear;
Lakes, forests, cities, plains, extending wide, 35
The pomp of kings, the shepherd's humbler pride.
When thus Creation's charms around combine,
Amidst the store, should thankless pride repine?
Say, should the philosophic mind disdain
That good, which makes each humbler bosom vain?
Let school-taught pride dissemble all it can, 41
These little things are great to little man;
And wiser he, whose sympathetic mind
Exults in all the good of all mankind.
Ye glitt'ring towns, with wealth and splendour crown'd,
Ye fields, where summer spreads profusion round, 46
Ye lakes, whose vessels catch the busy gale,
Ye bending swains, that dress the flow'ry vale,
For me your tributary stores combine;
Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine! 50
As some lone miser visiting his store,
Bends at his treasure, counts, re-counts it o'er;
Hoards after hoards his rising raptures fill,
Yet still he sighs, for hoards are wanting still:
Thus to my breast alternate passions rise, 55
Pleas'd with each good that heaven to man supplies:
Yet oft a sigh prevails, and sorrows fall,
To see the hoard of human bliss so small;
And oft I wish, amidst the scene, to find
Some spot to real happiness consign'd, 60
Where my worn soul, each wand'ring hope at rest,
May gather bliss to see my fellows bless'd.
But where to find that happiest spot below,
Who can direct, when all pretend to know?
The shudd'ring tenant of the frigid zone 65
Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own,
Extols the treasures of his stormy seas,
And his long nights of revelry and ease;
The naked negro, panting at the line,
Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine, 70
Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave,
And thanks his gods for all the good they gave.
Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam,
His first, best country ever is, at home.
And yet, perhaps, if countries we compare, 75
And estimate the blessings which they share,
Though patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find
An equal portion dealt to all mankind,
As different good, by Art or Nature given,
To different nations makes their blessings even. 80
Nature, a mother kind alike to all,
Still grants her bliss at Labour's earnest call;
With food as well the peasant is supplied
On Idra's cliffs as Arno's shelvy side;
And though the rocky-crested summits frown, 85
These rocks, by custom, turn to beds of down.
From Art more various are the blessings sent;
Wealth commerce, honour, liberty, content.
Yet these each other's power so strong contest,
That either seems destructive of the rest. 90
Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails,
And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.
Hence every state to one lov'd blessing prone,
Conforms and models life to that alone.
Each to the favourite happiness attends, 95
And spurns the plan that aims at other ends;
Till, carried to excess in each domain,
This favourite good begets peculiar pain.
But let us try these truths with closer eyes,
And trace them through the prospect as it lies: 100
Here for a while my proper cares resign'd,
Here let me sit in sorrow for mankind,
Like yon neglected shrub at random cast,
That shades the steep, and sighs at every blast.
Far to the right where Apennine ascends, 105
Bright as the summer, Italy extends;
Its uplands sloping deck the mountain's side,
Woods over woods in gay theatric pride;
While oft some temple's mould'ring tops between
With venerable grandeur mark the scene 110
Could Nature's bounty satisfy the breast,
The sons of Italy were surely blest.
Whatever fruits in different climes were found,
That proudly rise, or humbly court the ground;
Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear, 115
Whose bright succession decks the varied year;
Whatever sweets salute the northern sky
With vernal lives that blossom but to die;
These here disporting own the kindred soil,
Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil; 120
While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand
To winnow fragrance round the smiling land.
But small the bliss that sense alone bestows,
And sensual bliss is all the nation knows.
In florid beauty groves and fields appear, 125
Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
Contrasted faults through all his manner reign;
Though poor, luxurious; though submissive, vain;
Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet untrue;
And e'en in penance planning sins anew. 130
All evils here contaminate the mind,
That opulence departed leaves behind;
For wealth was theirs, not far remov'd the date,
When commerce proudly flourish'd through the state;
At her command the palace learn'd to rise, 135
Again the long-fall'n column sought the skies;
The canvas glow'd beyond e'en Nature warm,
The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form;
Till, more unsteady than the southern gale,
Commerce on other shores display'd her sail; 140
While nought remain'd of all that riches gave,
But towns unmann'd, and lords without a slave;
And late the nation found, with fruitless skill,
Its former strength was but plethoric ill.
Yet still the loss of wealth is here supplied 145
By arts, the splendid wrecks of former pride;
From these the feeble heart and long-fall'n mind
An easy compensation seem to find.
Here may be seen, in bloodless pomp array'd,
The paste-board triumph and the cavalcade; 150
Processions form'd for piety and love,
A mistress or a saint in every grove.
By sports like these are all their cares beguil'd,
The sports of children satisfy the child;
Each nobler aim, repress'd by long control, 155
Now sinks at last, or feebly mans the soul;
While low delights, succeeding fast behind,
In happier meanness occupy the mind:
As in those domes, where Caesars once bore sway,
Defac'd by time and tottering in decay, 160
There in the ruin, heedless of the dead,
The shelter-seeking peasant builds his shed,
And, wond'ring man could want the larger pile,
Exults, and owns his cottage with a smile.
My soul, turn from them; turn we to survey 165
Where rougher climes a nobler race display,
Where the bleak Swiss their stormy mansions tread,
And force a churlish soil for scanty bread;
No product here the barren hills afford,
But man and steel, the soldier and his sword; 170
No vernal blooms their torpid rocks array,
But winter ling'ring chills the lap of May;
No Zephyr fondly sues the mountain's breast,
But meteors glare, and stormy glooms invest.
Yet still, e'en here, content can spread a charm, 175
Redress the clime, and all its rage disarm.
Though poor the peasant's hut, his feasts though small,
He sees his little lot the lot of all;
Sees no contiguous palace rear its head
To shame the meanness of his humble shed; 180
No costly lord the sumptuous banquet deal
To make him loathe his vegetable meal;
But calm, and bred in ignorance and toil,
Each wish contracting, fits him to the soil.
Cheerful at morn he wakes from short repose, 185
Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes;
With patient angle trolls the finny deep,
Or drives his vent'rous plough-share to the steep;
Or seeks the den where snow-tracks mark the way,
And drags the struggling savage into day. 190
At night returning, every labour sped,
He sits him down the monarch of a shed;
Smiles by his cheerful fire, and round surveys
His children's looks, that brighten at the blaze;
While his lov'd partner, boastful of her hoard, 195
Displays her cleanly platter on the board:
And haply too some pilgrim, thither led,
With many a tale repays the nightly bed.
Thus every good his native wilds impart,
Imprints the patriot passion on his heart, 200
And e'en those ills, that round his mansion rise,
Enhance the bliss his scanty fund supplies.
Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms,
And dear that hill which lifts him to the storms;
And as a child, when scaring sounds molest, 205
Clings close and closer to the mother's breast,
So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's roar,
But bind him to his native mountains more.
Such are the charms to barren states assign'd;
Their wants but few, their wishes all confin'd.
